Teaching Kindness Through Friendship & Leadership
Valentine’s week gives us a beautiful opening to talk about kindness, but kindness isn’t just about cards or treats.
It’s about how we use our voices and how we treat one another every day.
This week in early learning, we can connect friendship and leadership by helping children see that kindness is a form of leadership.
When we read stories about friendship, we teach children to:
Use gentle voices
Include others
Speak up when something isn’t fair
When we learn about Black history leaders, we show children what kindness looks like on a bigger scale:
Using your voice to help others
Standing up for fairness
Leading with courage and care
The message becomes clear and consistent for children:
✨ Leaders are kind. Leaders help. Leaders speak up.
After a read aloud, try asking:
“How did the character use their voice?”
“Was that kind or helpful?”
“How can we use our voices like that in our classroom?”
Whether it’s inviting a friend to play or learning about leaders who changed the world, children are learning the same lesson:
Kindness matters. Voices matter. And they matter at every age.
That’s how we build community in early learning, one gentle voice at a time.
